It's about how Miller answers one of the most common questions
about his year offline: "How do you look at porn?"

The short answer is that he doesn't. Not anymore.

Aside from a softcore magazine he bought in Mexico one
time, he says "I haven't looked at any porn since I left
the internet, and it hasn't even been a challenge."

With all the accountability and potential for shame and
long-walks-to-the-convenience store that offline porn involves,
I've found it an easy vice to give up. I feel like I disappoint
people when I tell them this; they were looking for
porn-acquisition hijinks, or perhaps the revelation of a secret
hard drive stash, or just straight up surreptitious internet use
to get my fix. Nope, I'm porn-free and I love it. After years of
wanting so badly to stop, a quick rip of an ethernet plug was all
it took.

MIller says another side effect of giving up the Internet,
and therefore porn, is that he's more interested in going out
into the world and meeting girls.

He seems to have figured this out while playing a
videogame.

Mass Effect has one of the best space opera setups
in any medium. I bought the game soon after it came out, and was
immediately enthralled. Unfortunately, it was difficult, and time
consuming, and the space car driving mechanics sucked. My efforts
at romancing the blue aliens were unsuccessful, and I eventually
gave up on the game entirely.

Soon after I left the internet, however, I decided to
give Mass Effect another shot. I started from
scratch, soldiered through the rough parts, and finished the game
in about a week. But what really surprised me about the game was
how much effort I put into the virtual relationships inside the
game, specifically with the women. True to its
reputation, Mass Effect lets you go to
sexytown with either an alien or a human, and your in-game
choices and sweet-talking dialogue options make it happen.

Now I'm not saying I've never put that much effort into an IRL
relationship, I'm just saying I've never put that much effort
into an opportunity to see a few hints of 3D generated nudity.

Thankfully, my sex drive didn't stop there. I also began to think
about going out to bars. Not virtual "cantinas,"
but real bars.

A word of warning to those who might follow in Miller's
footsteps. He says he now suffers from a physical ailment.

A funny thing happened on the way to asceticism.
Essentially, a medically diagnosed case of blue balls. "Swollen
pipes" would be one way to put it. Epididymitis is the technical
term. It hurt, like a low-grade kick
to the balls. My doctor recommended ice, Advil, tighter
underwear, and regular ejaculation; my pastor thought I should
get a second opinion. Needless to say, it's confused my
crusade.